Teach Me To Live
by herecomesthesmoulder
Summary: Immediately following Mother Gothel's death, Eugene and Rapunzel must navigate life in the castle as Rapunzel's new identity as the Lost Princess is discovered. Expectations and rules take over as Eugene wonders if he can ever be anything more than a petty thief, let alone the Prince Consort. Can he live up to being Rapunzel's new dream?


Eugene Fitzherbert had experienced many pains in his life. Making his livelihood as one of the most notorious thieves throughout the seven kingdoms meant that he had managed to piss off a lot of people, and they weren't all very kind about it. He had been punched in the face, broken his nose, slashed with a sword on his thigh, strangled to the point of almost passing out, and had dislocated pretty much every bone that you could think of from its adjacent joint.

The one thing he had never been until today was stabbed.

And by an old witch lady nonetheless.

Being stabbed was a different kind of pain. The other injuries he had sustained were usually throbbing ones that lingered. They made you uncomfortable and stung a little. They hurt, but usually, after a while, they ended. This was a whole different ballgame. Initially, it was a pain that pierced him, sudden and deep. He felt it inside him, rather than just on the surface. Then it shocked his whole body, sending shooting pains up and down, to his toes and back up to his head. As he felt his blood seeping through his shirt onto his vest, the spots filled his eyes. His lungs gasped for air as he tried to speak, his heart pumping fast to try and spread his blood to his necessary organs. He could feel it. He was dying. It hurt like a bitch.

Yet, as excruciatingly painful as it was, it was nothing compared to the sight of her hands chained behind her. Her mouth gagged as she screamed his name, struggling to get away from her mother's tight grip on her. Knowing that she was going to leave with her and stay captive forever, never able to see the world. Never able to giggle in that cute manner that he had grown so fond of, never able to paint again, sing again, or really do anything that constitutes as living.

And the idea that she would do that just to save his life? That was the most painful thing he had ever known.

So, of course, he couldn't let her do it. He knew why the old lady wanted Rapunzel. It wasn't for the way that she cared about others, only seeing the good in even the most horrid people. It wasn't for her laughter or the jokes that she told, brightening up any room that she walked into. It wasn't even for the fact that she was smart, knowledgeable about things even though she had never truly been in the outside world for more than a day.

It was for her hair. The 70-foot fountain of youth that was attached to the beautiful girl that Eugene had fallen hard for.

Eugene didn't think too hard about it. He didn't consider the fact that her hair could probably be used to heal the sick and wounded, perhaps saving hundreds of lives and maybe making them a fortune. All that he knew was that it was the only thing tying Rapunzel to this evil witch of a woman who was keeping her captive. So he had no reservations about taking that shard of glass to the bunch of blond locks that he held tightly on to and slicing it through as if it were butter.

And as the hair turned brown quickly, losing its power, Eugene didn't think about how the witch had suddenly turned old, falling out the window and down to her doom. All he could think about was the beautiful girl in front of him, and how she would be all alone if he died, no one to help her figure out what she would do from now on.

And perhaps it was better that way, thought Eugene. If he had been with her they still wouldn't know what to do. He would still be wanted and would have no skills to allow him to change his ways and make a livelihood of his own, enough to support the both of them should they decide to stay together. At least if he was dead, she wouldn't be arrested for harboring a fugitive.

So as he died in her arms, whispering that she was his new dream as she sang that song, making a futile attempt to take back what Mother Gothel had stolen from her, he silently wished that she would find her own new dream. One that allowed her to finally be free and happy. She deserved that much, and so much more. He was left with the image of her holding him, short choppy brown hair and tears brimming her eyes. She was a beautiful tragedy, and he hoped to God that she would make it out ok. His body went limp, the world went black, and the death that he had been waiting for consumed him.

So imagine his surprise when a flash of golden light filled his brain, his eyes not open but still blinding him. A feeling of fullness in his lungs and his heart began beating again. A sound, one he'd never heard before, but so heavenly and almost magical that it was almost more beautiful than the sound of her voice.

Almost.

And when he finally opened her eyes, she was there. The same beautiful tragedy, but this time a certain hope appearing on her face as if she had been granted her greatest wish and nothing else could ever make her happier than this moment. He managed to spurt out her name, but he couldn't really think clearly, all that he could say after that was the cheesiest line that he could think of while his mind tried to wrap around the idea that he wasn't actually dead. Somehow she had saved him.

"Did I ever tell you I've got a thing for brunettes?" he let a slight smile crawl onto his face.

"Eugene!" she gasped as she launched herself into his arms. Suddenly, he hadn't felt so weak anymore. Whether it was the fact that she was finally wrapped around him like he had dreamed about ever since he had seen her in that boat, gazing lovingly at the thousands of lights surrounding them, or the fact that his wound was completely non-existent now, not even an ounce of blood remaining on his clothes. He didn't really care what it was. They were together now. He wrapped one strong arm around her, squeezing her as if he wasn't completely sure that she was real.

What made him sure that she was real was the way that she came out of the hug, laughing slightly as she launched herself forward, planting her lips straight onto his. It was the single greatest moment of his life, feeling her soft small lips against his. He grabbed the back of her head as he adjusted them, kissing her a bit harder with more passion. It was one of the more juvenile kisses on his long list of kisses he had had with women over the years, but it was certainly the best one of his life.

As she pulled back from him, staring at him with love and awe, he suddenly began to wonder what they were supposed to do now. They couldn't go back to the kingdom, not with him being wanted and all. He didn't have the crown anymore, so he couldn't sell that and take his earnings to run off with. He had a couple of belongings hidden away that he could find and sell, but it still wouldn't be enough to support them for a long time. As all these thoughts ran through his head, he didn't realize that she had spoken to him.

"What?" he asked, distracted by the racing thoughts in his head.

"I'm the lost princess" she whispered.

Ah. Well, that changes things.

"You're the lost princess?" he repeated, still trying to process what she had said.

"I knew the lights were meant for me, I can't believe I didn't figure it out sooner," she said, her hands still resting on his shoulders.

To be honest, he was surprised he hadn't figured it out either. It all made sense now. She did have the same birthday as the princess and was around the same age as he thought she would be. It was highly suspicious that the evil witch lady would keep a girl with magic hair contained in a tower and never let her out, and to be honest, a baby with that long of hair is quite unusual. He should have known.

Maybe he was too distracted by her presence to really think too hard about it. Maybe it was partly his desire for getting his satchel back being taken over by his desire for her, but nonetheless, he hadn't expected this at all.

It wasn't like everyone knew that the lost princess had magic hair. Sure, they knew about the magic flower but who would have thought that those powers would be transferred to her when she was born? None of it really mattered though, because they still needed a plan.

"The lost princess. Huh. I guess we should get you back to your castle then." He said, dazed.

"Do you think we should go now? What about you? Will they pardon you if they know that you saved me? Will they even believe me if I tell them it's me? What if they think I'm lying and we both get put in jail?" she rambled, her hands going to grab onto her non-existent hair, settling into her short, choppy locks. Eugene grabbed her shoulders in an effort to calm her down.

"Hey, look at me" he breathed "it's all gonna be ok. We can go back and hope that they'll believe you. You can tell them your story, and hey, maybe they'll even pardon me for my crimes." He rubbed her back soothingly as she stared into his eyes.

"What if they don't though? What if they believe me but it's not enough to save you?" she blinked at him, a scared look in her eyes. He sighed softly, bringing his hand up to cup her cheek.

"Look, I don't know what will happen, but if you're the lost princess you have to go back home. You've spent too much of your life trapped here. You deserve a life outside this tower." He said, his thumb rubbing a tear from the corner of her eye.

"I don't want a life outside if it's not with you…" she cried softly.

A part of Eugene knew that Rapunzel wasn't quite sure what she was talking about. After all, they had only just met, and he was the first person she had ever known other than an old lady manipulating her in order to keep her as her own personal fountain of youth and a tiny green chameleon. She didn't know what was out there, the people that she could meet that were much better than him, a lowly thief. She was a princess, and he was nothing.

"There's so much out there, Rapunzel. So much that you'd love. You deserve a life, a real one filled with joy and love. I want that life for you, even if it means I'm not a part of it." Tears spilled faster out of her eyes and she wrapped herself around him again, holding on tightly as if he might disappear.

"No. No, we can go somewhere else" she moved back and looked him in the eyes, grabbing onto the front of his vest and smoothing it down "we can run away, just you and me. We can start a new life and explore the world and be happy" she exclaimed, hesitation in her voice.

"No. We have to go back to Corona, Rapunzel. Think about your family, they've been waiting eighteen years for you to return. They love you, Rapunzel, and you need to go to them. Even if we wanted to run away, what would we do? We would never have enough money to get by. Let me take you back, I promise everything will be okay."

He wasn't sure if it would be okay, but he knew that the right thing to do was to bring her back to Corona. Whether or not he'd be pardoned for his crimes, he didn't know. The only thing he knew was that he cared immensely for this girl in his arms. The girl who had been deprived of everything good in her life, and he'd be damned if he were to deprive her of this, a real family.

"o-okay" she sniffled "but can you promise me one thing?" she asked him softly.

"Anything" he replied. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her forehead resting against his as she breathed against his lips.

"Don't let go of me until we get there?"

"I wasn't planning on it." He chuckled as he kissed her, smiling against her perfect lips.


End file.
